Gedolah Hachnasas Orchim: Chesed as Deveikus in Hashem and Honoring Every Guest

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. We have the mechidik hachnasas orchim of Avraham Avinu. Hachnasas orchim, vadai, it's one of the great mitzvahs that we as Yidden cherish, hachnasas orchim. The parsha teaches us how great hachnasas orchim is. It's a Chazal, it's a Gemara, with an interesting observation. Avraham Avinu is talking to the Ribono Shel Olam: Vayeira eilav Hashem b'eilonei Mamrei. Chazal call this Kabbalas Pnei HaShechinah. Vayeira eilav Hashem b'eilonei Mamrei. And yet, sees orchim from far, and he drops the fact that he's talking to the Ribono Shel Olam, and he runs to the orchim. And who were these orchim already? Arab, three Arabs from Gaza, three Arabs in the street. And this hafla va fella, this is to him the mitzvah, the mitzvah of a lifetime, which he gives up, Kabbalas Pnei HaShechinah for. Says Chazal, Maseches Shabbos, daf kuf chav-zayin amud aleph, Gedolah mitzvas hachnasas orchim yoser... Kabbalas pnei Shechinah. From here we learn, obviously, Kabbalas pnei Shechinah isn't greater than hachnasas orchim, because you see Avraham Avinu is ready to leave the Kabbalas pnei Shechinah in order to go do hachnasas orchim. What is the lashon of gedolah? It's greater. And why is it greater? Gedolah hachnasas orchim; it's greater than Kabbalas pnei Shechinah. It's interesting, we find in Chazal different leshonos, different vernacular of how to explain when something is greater or takes precedence over another thing. We find the lashon adif. It's Gemara Megillah. Is Talmud Torah adif? Is it more? The Gemara Megillah speaks about this mitzvah is adif over that mitzvah. For example, mevatlin Talmud Torah l'hotzaas meis... u'meis mitzvah adif. We find the lashon of adif. We find the lashon of mevatlin, like I just mentioned, that we're mevatel one mitzvah for another mitzvah. And sometimes we find the lashon of gadol, which is our Chazal over here, and interestingly there in Megillah as well, Daf gimmel amud beis, the Gemara says, Gadol Talmud Torah yoser me'hakravas temidim. So Chazal use different language. To say that one mitzvah is sometimes bigger or takes precedence over another mitzvah, sometimes it's the lashon of gadol, gedolah, in our case gedolah. Sometimes it's mevatlin, and sometimes the lashon is adif. Notice it doesn't say mevatlin kabbalas pnei Shechinah tachnasas orchim. Notice it doesn't say adif, that hachnasas orchim is adif in the kabbalas pnei Shechinah. It uses a lashon of gedolah. And as we soon will see from the words of the Gedolei Baalei HaMussar, which all our hashkafah come from them, maybe it's specifically Chazal chose the word gadol over the word mevatlin. But it's not mevatlin, kabbalas pnei Shechinah for hachnasas orchim, but it's actually gedolah, as we will explain. Gedolah hachnasas orchim yoser mikabbalas pnei Shechinah. The implication is we're not talking about mevatlin.

We're not talking about leaving one thing and going to the next because it takes precedence, but just one is greater than the other. What does that mean? I want to be makdim an interesting Chofetz Chaim. The Chofetz Chaim has a shaila. The Chofetz Chaim asks, was this the first time that Avraham Avinu does chesed? Says the Chofetz Chaim, no, not per se. I mean, his whole life, Avraham Avinu did esho: achilah, sheinah, linah, shtiah, linah. Avraham Avinu was chesed all his life. Yet all of a sudden we celebrate Avraham Avinu's meirikachnasas orchim over here, to the point, says the Chofetz Chaim, we find that all the zechusim that we have, the mon and the be'er, it's all because of this act of chesed that Avraham Avinu did. Fragt the Chofetz Chaim, what is it about this act that because of it, more than any other act of chesed that he did, that we were zoche to so much? I'd like to read the words of the Heilige Chofetz Chaim. It's in Ahavas Chesed, chelek gimmel, perek beis, in the Hagah. He says like this: Kol ma she'asa Avraham Avinu lamalachim b'atzmo, HaKadosh Baruch Hu l'banav b'atzmo. Whatever Avraham did for the malachim, for the orchim himself, the Ribono Shel Olam paid him back. Directly. But whatever he did, al yedei shliach. Yukach na me'at mayim. He asked Yishmael to do it, and so it was returned to us only al yedei shliach. Tzafnas Chaim, tzarich ladaas. We have to understand, vechi beshvil she'amar pa'am achas, Yukach na me'at mayim, tzarich la'asis mayim l'shishim ribo anashim meshech arba'im shanah? Because he said one time, Yukach na me'at mayim, so therefore the Ribono Shel Olam pays him back sixty ribo anashim, forty years of water. He's getting a lot more than he gave. It's a lot greater. V'chein bishvil shenaasa hachemah v'hachol nitzrach la'asis lechem u'mazon l'shishim ribo anashim meshech arba'im shanah? Do you know that the Ribono Shel Olam paid him back kiflayim, kiflayim? Do you imagine how much he got in return for the act of chesed, which is interestingly the Chofetz Chaim is downplaying it. What was the... And then he starts asking, in all his life he was doing chesed, so what's so special about this act that we got all in return in the Midbar, so many years of chesed? Says the Chofetz Chaim, I would have said simply, here was with a tremendous mesiras nefesh. He was a choleh, he was sick. You're talking about tremendous mesiras nefesh. And also we see how much he went to search the chesed. Didn't wait for the chesed to come to him. Anandere ligt in bet, he lays in his bed, ... finished. But for some reason the Chofetz Chaim didn't hear this answer. Maybe it has a lot to do with the Chofetz Chaim. Maybe the Chofetz Chaim didn't see this as such a big chiddush. To me it's a ... chiddush. What, what, what? Avraham Avinu was ... that the choleh is sick, and now dangerously sick he was at this moment, and yet b'mesirus nefesh she goes and he does the chesed. The Chofetz Chaim says, Why is he getting so much schar for this? His whole life he's doing chesed. I have no other explanation than maybe just we don't know how great the Chofetz Chaim was. To him, ... this chesed was ... Al kol panim, the teretz of the Chofetz Chaim is even a bigger chiddush. Chofetz Chaim says a chiddush, that he did chesed all his life, unbelievable, but to who? Shtaim, mem, ... who was already around then, the people were rich, there weren't poor people, ... But here, you're talking about mamash ... הכנסת אורחים שלא יכירי, כל נבראים שבעולם, the Ribono...

You sent them malachim, and to them he's doing chesed. That's halflah of a fella. I said, did he know it was malachim? And because once you knew it's malachim, it undermines the whole chesed. I don't know, it's a peldike Chofetz Chaim. Hey, hey, it's here. It's written in the Chofetz Chaim. It's here. It's ... They were malachim kedoshim, ul'eino vidmu lei k'shar orchim sheruglim heim tamid, vheichlem, vikiriv oisam l'ma'od, v'im kein, b'zeh yesh machshavah, v'gam ma'aseh l'tovah, ul'nevro'im chashuvim ka'eilu, chishva HaKadosh Baruch Hu kol tircha v'tircha sheloi, v'shileim ha'bur m'deiroisav habo'im acharav. This is the shakla v'tarya, the reid of the Chofetz Chaim. Ma, what's he saying, the ma'aseh chesed? Yeah, yeah, it's a big thing, ... and he put his whole work into it, and it's true all his life he was doing chesed, that's 100% true. But machshavah tovah, HaKadosh Baruch Hu mitzaref l'maaseh, and even though he himself didn't know that they were malachim, l'maaseh they were malachim. I need a rebbe for this one. I don't really understand what the Chofetz Chaim is saying. I'm very humble. Maybe the Chofetz Chaim was so big that I don't even know what he's saying. He's so in chesed that I ... I ... I'm going to try to give a teretz to this kasha, but of course with the words of a different Chofetz, the Chofetz Chaim. The Chofetz Chaim in perek aleph has a she'eilah. If you notice, we got punished, so to speak. We got punished. What was the punishment? Yukach na, that's mayim. Because we did it al yedei shliach. Avraham didn't do it himself. Mimeila, the Ribono Shel Olam paid back al yedei shliach. Fragt the Chofetz Chaim, there's a mefurash halacha: you're not mevatel talmud Torah when it's efshar la'asos al yedei acheirim. Avraham Avinu was sitting and learning. Interesting. So what do you do? The Chofetz Chaim is machriach on this shaila. We know that every mitzvah, if it's able to be done through another person, there's bishlom the stuff that can't be done al yedei acheirim. Good, Avraham Avinu had to stop everything to go do it. Hafach, bitul from Torah when it was efshar. So what's the whole thing that he was punished for? So the Chofetz Chaim gives two terutzim in the Hagah in perek aleph, and he says, kivan—anyway he had to stop learning because he was busy with everything else, because he had to take care of the orchim. So once you're already not learning, the yukach na mat mayim, you shouldn't have done it al yedei shliach. You know, I'd like to say it's a Mishnah Berurah, rabosai. Lamed lamed Mishnah Berurah. Zei zogt the Mishnah Berurah, that since he's already anyway busy with the orchim, mimeila, you had the yukach na mat mayim. Okay, so that's it. It's a ta'ina. And then he says a second teretz, a pele. Kivan shehaorchim hayu nichbadim b'yoser, l'maaseh they were malachim, so they were chashuvim, and lefi the chashivus it wouldn't be shein, it wouldn't be derech eretzdik to send someone else to do it. Mimeila, it's nichlal in the halacha of mitzvah b'yoser mibishlucho. Yatza maaseh. Again, he knew they were malachim. L'maaseh, they're not malachim. And since they're malachim, pas nisht. This shikken atzvei. Un in der pas nisht, and this, that it doesn't, so you need change. Nicht der cheretzdik, dos iz shein echad. Halacha, mitzvah yoser mishlucho, shemevatel Talmud Torah. Hafla vafela. Here, we have two haros. Let's be clear, the Chofetz Chaim's ha'arah. Ha'arah number one: how did the maaseh of hachnasas orchim in this week's parsha bring us mon and be'er and all the zechusim and all the zachen for years and years? It's not midah keneged midah. We got a lot more than what we gave. That's shailah number one. Shailah number two: how could there be a ta'ina of yukach na me'at mayim, if nachal Einayis? It was efshar asah al yedei acheirim. Someone else. Yishmael was able to do it. Halacha always is yesh.

Yeah, you can stop learning for a mitzvah. But if he was able to, outside, dei acheirim, you have no right to do it. So what's the taina of Yukach no matmayim? And he gives two terutzim because he's anyway busy in the kitchen. Teretz number one. Teretz number two. ... I'm מבטל תלמוד תורה ... It's interesting. If you had to pasken a shaila, would you pasken that way? ... I'm nothing. I learned the words of the Chofetz Chaim, and I'm humbled. Chofetz Chaim is talking to us. He's telling us, ... to mechabed another person outweighs the din. It's a קל וחומר ... It outweighs the din of Talmud Torah. ... This will push off the Talmud Torah. Why bichlal is gedoylah hachnasas orchim yoser mikabalas pnei haShechinah? And what's the taina of Yukach no matmayim? Like the Mishnah Berurah says, Chofetz Chaim, that no, he had to do it. He had to. He had to do it. And if he didn't do it, it was a taina. You could send someone else, and don't forget, chaveisai, ... that Avraham Avinu sent somebody else. Rashi says, k'dei l'chanech Yishmael b'mitzvos. It's not stam he was lazy. He grabbed a slip, a second, and he was lazy. ... His cheshbon wasn't chinuch, ... And af al pi kein it was a taina. Yukach na me'at mayim. He did it so Yishmael should also be ... He did it so Yishmael should also be about hachnasas orchim. Share the mitzvah, bisel. ... And with all the cheshbonos, that goes out, that's not nogea. Why? ... Ei kavod, ei kavod. You're talking about a sick man. You're talking about a ... Shlishi limilah, that the Ribono Shel Olam had to come visit him. You learn out shlishi limilah, it mentions mamash b'sakana. You're talking about mentions a sakana, and he makes a cheshbon, yukach na me'at mayim, that he wants him l'chanech his son? And that's already a taina. Like this Chofetz Chaim ... because why? L'maaseh they were malachim. Did he know they were malachim? Did he even know they were malachim? L'maaseh they were malachim. Chashuvim. How you'll ask me a kasha, what does he mean, the klal, the Chofetz Chaim? I mean, did he know or he didn't know? And they all ask this kasha. He didn't ... They're gonna come home Shabbos, your kids, they're gonna ask you this shaila: did he know or didn't he know? So I'll tell you the teretz to that kasha. Even those that don't know, they know. The Chofetz Chaim ztokt, as a malach קומט צו, theyvelt men shein. Avraham Avinu would notice it. He'll act to them as if they're not. Aber mit visn as zi malachim. He'll tell them a maaseh aveirah, but tell them a maaseh. They wrote the sefarim on the Chofetz Chaim. So the person who wrote the sefarim, he asked me if he could take my notes from the shiurim, from the yeshiva, if they could, and take out all the stories. I said, Fine, but it's not my stories, it's the Chofetz Chaim. What's the shaychus? Kitzur, he wrote one book, two books, three books. By the time the fifth book came around, he ran out of material from my notes. So he called me up and he says to me, You got to get me more. You got to get it. Speak to your father, to your uncle. You got to get me more maases, because my zeide learned for thirteen years. So I asked my father, I said, Tatte, ... maaseh. He says, I don't remember anymore. I told you everything about it. Kitzur, he came to me a few days later. I remembered nach a maaseh. What's the maaseh? That the Chofetz Chaim was sitting in a sukkah, and he was having a conversation. Up back in...

forth with somebody, a conversation, yeah, a Tanach. So the talmidim who came to visit the Chofetz Chaim on Yontif, they hear that he's talking to somebody. They said, you know, let's wait till the person leaves, that cheder, and then we'll go in. They wait, they wait, they wait, they wait. The conversation stops, and they're ready to say, now we can go in. The guy's not leaving. Nobody's leaving, and they're waiting and they're waiting and waiting. Finally they had the chutzpah, so to speak, the courage to look inside. They look and say, there's nobody there. Nobody there. So the zeideh, flegt iberzogn, my father told me that in yeshiva it been gezogt, ad chofetz chaim ret mit a Yid. The Yid came to him and he's having a conversation with the Yid. Azoi iz der maaseh. Likhshikim demaaseh. I send it to him. Calls me back two weeks later, You have no idea this maaseh. I went to Reb Chaim Kanievsky, and I asked Reb Chaim, can I print such a maaseh? You know, you print a book and you start writing... Reb Chaim told him, Don't print this maaseh, because the derech of this nit farshteanen. Ich prezent lach, I personally believe it, but I'm telling you not to print it. You're not thinking to myself, what is the pshat in the maaseh? Because to Reb Chaim, what happened? Someone like Reb Chaim. He can hear such a story. We, we think it's a chamadne maiseh, yeah. What the Chofetz Chaim is farteitching, that Avraham Avinu could have been that he didn't really know. It's not possible. And you know what it speaks volumes about? It speaks volumes about the Chofetz Chaim. That's pshat in this maiseh. The Chofetz Chaim... You're right, it was ... it was Arabs... but the Chofetz Chaim... Okay. L'maaseh, so what's the pshat? We have two kashas, so we have to work on answering these two kashas. So let's begin. ... The ... from kelim, shein vigold. The ... from kelim's up. Do meinst Avraham Avinu's hachnosas orchim, ... in a maiseh of hachnosas orchim. So you give a kiddush shem Shamayim. Avraham Avinu's hachnosas orchim was megaleh to the world, v'asis mein tzayin a yarei Elokim. Un mimeila, gedoylah. It's much greater than anything else because the tachlis habriyah is to mekadesh shem Shamayim. That's the ... from kelim. The Ohr HaChaim speaks about that the yesod, Kol hanikra bishmi, kvodi berasiv. So if a person lives that way, that everything he does is to bring out kvod Shamayim, the honor of the Ribono Shel Olam, and he says that's pshat, zeh Keili. If a person behaves in a way that everything he does is for zeh Keili. That's what his goal is, memeila va'anveihu. Then the Rabbeinu Shlolem is exalted. And he ends the shmues. It's a beautiful shmues; you should look into it a little bit. And he says that people would say, Baruch Elokei Avram, and therefore, v'ein kavod Hashem yisbarach yoser mizeh, v'nimtza, so it comes out that he wasn't pogea in Kabbalas Pnei HaShechinah. Fakert, the opposite. He was trying to eat Kabbalas Pnei HaShechinah. It wasn't effective. Al tefakel. You think it's a kavod, a rebbe to the melech; he's talking to the king. Umitam melech, excuse me, I have to go because Chaim Yankel texted me. I'll say that? Oh, excuse me, Tzaddik, sorry, I'll take that back. Okay, I take it back. Good. But that's really what he was saying, right? The Alter Kelem didn't have text in his days, but basically this is what he was trying to ask. Excuse me, excuse me, one second, one second, one second. ... and I clapped ... I have to ... the orchim are here. And the answer the kasha this way: the fakert does Kabbalas Pnei HaShechinah, hagufa. So I guess gedoylah...

It's bigger because it's taking the Kabbalas Pnei HaShechinah, the covenant, and acting it out to the world, and the whole world should see the covenant of their Rabbeinu Shelolem. Ayin sichas, aleph from Kelaf. I'd like to share with you a shtikel in Netziv, Rabbeisai, and then we'll go back to answer the kashas. The Netziv says, the gantze shtikel Torah of the Chofetz Chaim, the whole shtikel Torah, efshar l'yasah al yedei acheirim, the gantze zach. But the Chofetz Chaim asks it מצד תורה, bittul Torah. Bittul Torah — you're not supposed to stop learning, which means Avraham Avinu sitting and learning. The Netziv asks it מצד a different mitzvah, a very interesting mitzvah, and that's called Kabbalas Pnei HaShechinah, a mitzvah of Ahavas Hashem. Avraham Avinu at that moment was involved in a mitzvah, shakua b'eisah sha b'Ahavas Hashem. And on this he asks, Ahavas Hashem? Maiseh, if it's efshar l'yasah al yedei acheirim, what was the ta'ina of Yochanan that night? The Chofetz Chaim is asking it מצד bittul Torah, hilchos Talmud Torah. Onefrekt — he's in the middle of a mitzvah called Ahavas Hashem, and the halachah is, osek b'mitzvah is patur min hamitzvah. So bishleima if it couldn't be done through somebody else, so you have to stop the mitzvah maybe, because it's a mitzvah overes. And this is not a mitzvah overes, right? There's zman; he could still be mekabel Pnei HaShechinah a different time. But if it's efshar l'yasah al yedei acheirim... So the mitzvah of Ahavas Hashem, to be dovuk in the Rabbeinu Shleilam. Haveisai, who talks like that today? Did you? He's being—I'm sorry, I'm being oisek right now in being dovuk in the Rabbeinu Shleilam. I'm a tzaddik, so can't be bothered. Oisek b'mitzvah. I have a lot to talk about this, haveeisai, but what do I want? I want to talk about the teretz to the kasha in light of this tziv. You know what it means to be dovuk in the Rabbeinu Shleilam, haveeisai? Yes, we know sefarim talk about hisbodedus. It's good zach. We talk about it some other time. But there's a way to do it l'maaseh, and that is to be misdabek b'drachav shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu. That's also dveikus in the Rabbeinu Shleilam. You know, rabosai, you want to feel the Eibishter. People want to attach themselves to the Rabbeinu Shleilam. Chazal tell us how to do that, and that is hisdabek b'midosav, u'bo sidbakin. One of the derashos is to do what the Rabbeinu Shleilam does. Mah hu rachum, af atah rachum. Mah hu chanun, af atah chanun. You notice right after this, the pasuk says that the Rabbeinu Shleilam says about Avraham Avinu, Ki yedativ l'maan asher yetzaveh es banav es beiso acharav, v'shamru derech Hashem. What is derech Hashem? And the answer is, v'halachta bidrachav. That's b'shamlu derech Hashem. Avraham showed, through his ma'aseh of hachnasas orchim, that he is going b'derech Hashem. He's being medavek. Un a dos meit Chazal, gedolah hachnasas orchim yoser mikabbalas pnei haShechinah, because it really is the same thing, but even more. It's a gedolah in the kabbalas pnei haShechinah. Your person is mekabel the pnei haShechinah. It's still not davuk to the Shechinah; it's kabbalah in front of. But there's one step further, rabosai. On chapen der Rabbeinu Shleilam. Boi sidbuk. Here, rabosai, Chazal are teaching us gedolah, gedolah. It's greater, yoser, more than kabbalas pnei haShechinah. Kabbalas pnei haShechinah means, yes, Rabbeinu Shleilam, I'm here. But then there's, Rabbeinu Shleilam, I'm hugging you, I'm with you, I'm together, mamash boi sidbuk, hand in hand. It's gedolah. That's why Chazal use the lashon of gedolah. And this answers already the kasha: why were we zocheh to so much, so much, just because Avraham Avinu...

This act, that act, and the answer is, it's not midah k'neged midah. It's not that the Ribono Shel Olam said, because you did A, I'll give you B. Because you were misdabek in the midah of the Ribono Shel Olam, of tov and meitiv and rachum and chanun, so you're zocheh to the gates, to go to see the Ribono Shel Olam's full hatovah. That's what Chazal say. A person who experiences the Ribono Shel Olam through hatovah, so the Ribono Shel Olam is meitiv with him to the ultimate, which is the Ribono Shel Olam's hatovah. So avad, it's not, I did this and I got that. And then you have the Chofetz Chaim's kasha: we got much more than what we did. Yomekayim v'halachta bidrachav. When you're tov, then the Ribono Shel Olam will be meitiv. Kol hamerachem al habriyos, merachamin alav, hatov in return, because b'midah she'adam moded, bo modedin boi. Avraham was nisnaseh b'midas hachesed, so the Ribono Shel Olam showed him His ultimate fullest to the end of the extent of chesed, of hatovah. Mimeila, of course it's not equal. I want to end, rabosai, in the next three, four minutes, but I want you to take away two things interesting, okay? How do we apply lemaaseh? Yoser mikabelas pnei haShechinah. So I don't know, we brought a case where a person... Here, the Shabbos table, the guests, hachnasas orchim. Can I tell you an interesting thing? When I grew up, I didn't know there was such a thing as Shalom Aleichem Friday night. I never knew, I never even heard of it, ever. When I went to camp, and everybody started singing Shalom Aleichem, I said, I'm a stam a chassidishe minhag. I didn't know what it was, but I never heard of it. I came home, and I said, Zeidy, you know there's a whole world out there that sings Shalom Aleichem. So what's going on? He says, Kindtayer, I want to tell you. You know, the Chofetz Chaim had guests by his table, as we do all, every Shabbos, all the aniyim, the shtot, ate by the Rav. The Chofetz Chaim held not to sing Shalom Aleichem because the, quote unquote, the malachim aren't hungry. If they could wait, the people can't wait. I never heard, I just never heard of it. I never heard of the Shalom Aleichem. I just never heard, we never sang Shalom Aleichem. This minhag of the Chofetz Chaim is brought in the teshuvos, rabosai. The Dvar Avraham in the Shaalos u'Teshuvos Chelek Beis siman beis, in the Hagah says that he heard a tremendous thing from the Chofetz Chaim. The Dvar Avraham was called the Rav. A tremendous thing. What was the tremendous thing? That the Chofetz Chaim did not sing Shalom Aleichem Friday night. But he gives an interesting halachic reason, and that is, he brings down that if you make the ani, the poor person, or the hungry person wait, you're over the issur of bal ta'acher. Sholom Aleichem is a minhag, bal ta'acher d'Oraisa. There's a din in Shulchan Aruch in Yoreh Deah, siman reish lamed zayin, se'if gimmel, that a neder tzedakah, and he doesn't give it right away, he's over on bal ta'acher. No? I tried to search, why is this never in a Mishnah Berurah? And it's interesting, Mishnah Berurah never wrote about saying Sholom Aleichem. It fascinated me, and I found it rather an interesting halacha. The Mishnah Berurah in Sha'ar HaTziyun mentions this nekudah, and he says as follows: There's a halacha, you are mechuyav seudas by night, to eat a kezayis in the seudah. What happens if it rains? We all know the issue. And halacha requires us to wait till chatzos. And once chatzos passes and it's still raining, then you can just go eat and go. That's it. Comes along the Sha'ar HaTziyun, legra Chofetz Chaim, and paskens on his own: V'im mitzta'er b'rovoi b'sheina einam tonaso. If you're causing people to be extremely hungry and tired, u'vifrat — it's a Sha'ar HaTziyun, tof reish lamed tes, se'if katan samech zayin — u'vifrat k'shehizmin etzlo orchim aniyim, u'mistama lo yochlu kol hayom, v'im te'ev...

Ein lecha ilu mitzta'arim, ein loi lahamtin. You have no right to wait for the de'oraisa, the kezayis of Sukkos night. You know, sometimes we don't really understand Yiddish. We have a picture of what it's supposed to look like and what it's supposed to sound like. But if we listen carefully to Gedolei Yisrael, if we listen to the previous generations, we get a whole different picture of what it is. So he says, why? ... mitzta'er chayav, v'vadai yochel le'echol v'yotzei ידי המצות עשה, v'mitzta'er he's patur. Ve'efshar oid, and here is the key that I want to bring out, the dvar Avraham, ve'efshar oid, d'le'inyan aniyah d'kaimi, since you have poor people there, im ya'akvei mi'le'echol, issura nami ika. You'll be over an issur if you keep them from eating. V'heim einam mechuyavim latzis kala de'os, v'ikach shash d'bal ta'acher. There you go. There's your bal ta'acher. Sharitz. Hilchos Sukkah. You keep the poor people that you invited to your table from eating, you're over the issur of bal ta'acher. Tapalas pnei haShechinah, yed malachim, ... chakal tapuchin kadishin. It's all emes. Here's the ... You got to think about that. And now let me show you one more thing, and this will end. Someone asked me on the way in, and it's a famous question, Avraham Avinu, if there's no orchim, there's no orchim, so what's the problem? What's the issue? But you got invent orchim. You know, according to the Rambam, the story never happened. It was a chalom, it was a dream. The Rambam brings it down. The orchim never happened. Ah, you'll ask me the kasha, how do you ever learn out from here? That's a good she'eilah. If you want, you could stay, I'm here. But you're gonna have ta'inas afterwards, and then I'm gonna be over bal ta'acher. Okay. So what's pshat in that? Ramban, I'll just quickly throw it out. What's hamen tachtuchin teg cholmte banach? When a person thinks through the day, he dreams by the night. Avraham Avinu was dreaming for hachnasas orchim. Let's put it that way. He was dreaming for hachnasas orchim. But why do you have to dream if they're not there, they're not there, and the teretz is, Havei. Does it say, Mahu merachem, af atah merachem? Is it about the act, or is it about the middah? Does it say, Mahu merachem, af atah merachem? No. Mahu rachum, it's who you are. It's not about the act. The mensch darf zayn a rachum. And a rachum means he searches to do rachmanus. He searches to be meitiv, to the point that he's b'tzaar if he can't do it. That's mahu rachum, af atah rachum. And then we could come and say a chiddush with two ma'asim. It's a mitzvah shebegufei, maybe. It's not about the act. Mahu rachum. Is it about that he went and he did this act of rachmanus? No. It's about who you are. And then efshar li osos al yedei acheirim contradicts mahu rachum. Because if you're a rachum, you don't feel good if it's efshar li osos al yedei acheirim. The rachmanus is that you're the merachem, because it's not so much about what gets done, but it's about your ahavah, the need that you have to do it. You earned yourself two beautiful ma'asim. One chasidish and one Litvish. The chasidish ma'aseh is from the Baal Shem. It's brought down in Sipurei Chassidim that the Baal Shem was very rich. And when people came to the Shever, there were servants all over, yet the Baal Shem, the son-in-law would go himself and prepare the beds and schlepp the mattresses. So the Shever said, Edem tayerel, I don't know if it would happen today. Maybe today the Shever would say, Go, get to work a little bit. But alright, al kol panim, the Shever says, What are you working for? I'll pay the goya.

Tzvei taytale, tzvei tayt rab, rubles, and it'll get done. So the Baal HaDibur said, What? First you want to give the mitzvah of hachnasas orchim to the goy, and then you want to pay him for that also? The Vilna Chacham ... like that? That's eizeh? It's a mitzvah shebegufei, davka. And I'll tell you, maybe you can ma'aseh from the heilige Chofetz Chaim. I start with his words, I end with his words, and we should all live guided by his words, chaveirei. My alter feter, Reb Zalman, is brought in the Me'oros HaGedolim, Reb Chaim Zaitchik zatzal, in his sefarim on the Chofetz Chaim. He has all those. He brings this beautiful story. It's a classic story, and also shows the Chofetz Chaim had a good sense of humor too. Interesting. Reb Zalman came to visit. My uncle, Reb Zalman's ... came to visit the Chofetz Chaim. The Chofetz Chaim made his bed for him and etcetera. So Reb Zalman said, Rebbe, Rebbe, vos... I'll do it myself. Don't do it for me. I'll help you. I'll help you. The next morning, Reb Zalman is ready to go to daven, took his tefillin, he thought the Chofetz Chaim shows up next to him and starts helping him with the tefillin. So he says, I don't... You wanted to help me, right? No, I'll put on tefillin for you. What's the big deal? I'll do it. I mean, that's what you told me last night, right? You told me you want to take away my mitzvah of hachnasas orchim, and you would do it. So you know what? I'll wear your tefillin for you today, no problem. Rebbe... it's hashgachah. Hashgachah. You hear that, Rebbe? This is what Avraham Avinu gave us as the father of chesed. We have chesed from a whole different angle of chesed. You know, Lot also did a lot of chesed. We're stopping here. But remember, see the difference between Avraham's and Lot's. Our chesed and the world's chesed, it's eina domeh. The lesson is, please don't put on tefillin for other people. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.